The latest role model for adult Chinese women? Barbie!

Women, not girls, are flocking to Mattel’s newly opened pink, “princess-y” Barbie flagship store in Shanghai, reports the Washington Post. In a shrewd marketing gambit, the world’s biggest toy manufacturer is targeting young urban professional Chinese women in their 20s and 30s who are less interested in purchasing the 50-year-old doll than snapping up more adult items such as pink T-shirts, animal-print scarves, gourmet chocolates and a $10,000 Vera Wang wedding dress. (Mattel isn’t alone trying to target the demographic which is more willing to spend than their male counterparts: Estee Lauder has teamed up with Sony to produce a 40-episode digital sitcom that includes product placements for Clinique cosmetics.) Line-ups at the Barbie store suggest the formula is working: "Barbie attracts me because she’s very feminine and independent,” one shopper told the newspaper. “She’s in charge of her own life. And she has many different roles. But most important are her pretty clothes."

Washington Post